Sharing the Treasure: Together

Sharing the treasure we have in Jesus is a group effort! In recognition of the many people and initiatives that play crucial roles in enabling Christar to establish churches among the least-reached, I’ve asked several who serve in the Christar Mobilization Center U.S. (CMCUS) to share how different parts of the Body of Christ contribute to cultivating Christ-honoring transformation. This month, Mark, who serves as the Director of Operations for the CMCUS, explains how our updated computer system will better enable us to serve our workers and their support teams well.

Humans have a love-hate relationship with “change.” It disrupts our routines and grates on our expectations. Yet, we pursue it. Creativity drives us to look at what is good, and instinctively we strive to make it better. It is in our DNA, for each of us is made in the image of our creative God.

History tells us that this is so. Phones are no longer tethered to the wall. Newspapers and magazines have given way to articles on the screens we can carry with us in a pocket. Cross-cultural workers don’t travel to their field of service on boats anymore. Their communications have evolved from hand-written aerograms that took weeks, even months, to reach their support teams and families to emails and apps allow us to keep in touch instantaneously. Prayer teams can lift up needs of least-reached communities as they unfold. A new worker can arrive on the far side of the world in less than a day of air travel. And, thanks to some recent upgrades in our system, by next month financial supporters of Christar will be able to make donations for needs around the world in as few as three clicks.

For many months, the departments of the Christar Mobilization Center U.S. have combined their efforts to bring our workers and their support teams an updated system. Through it, they will be able to readily access timely resources, prayer requests and suitable opportunities for service around the world, as well as make donations easily, securely and efficiently.

Why are we changing our system now? Because we want to serve our workers and their support teams well. And we want to do it better than we have in the past.

For several years, we’ve received feedback from donors asking for a simpler process. We have longed to provide such a system that would provide excellence in both usability and security. Our new site does that. Not only is it easier to use to make a single donation to a worker or project; it provides each donor with their own dashboard where they can print receipts, update payment methods, track giving and schedule new or recurring gifts.

But the improvements to our system go beyond upgrades to financial giving. For those who labor with us through prayer, requests are easily accessible on the website “pray” page, through a monthly email and as a PDF download. Our new system also allows us to include our monthly prayer calendar on the reverse side of receipts for donations made by mail, consolidating printing and postage costs and allowing us to allocate resources more effectively.

For those exploring ministry among the least-reached, more intuitive search options will help match potential workers with short-term, mid-term and long-term opportunities on our teams around the world. The application process is now streamlined and simplified to help workers and their churches engage this process with clarity and ease.

Change is the door through which we adapt to the future, but it comes by way of a journey. Our cross-cultural workers don’t immerse in a new culture instantly. They must learn. It involves shedding elements of their former culture and embracing things that are new and often uncomfortable. Yet, for the sake of the least-reached, they willingly embrace those changes.

We are asking each of you to join us in a similar journey. As we seek to serve our workers and support teams more effectively, we want to embrace the technological advancements that offer us better ways to organize information, more secure ways to shepherd transactions and more intuitive means to share information.

On April 1, you will see our new website online. We’ve included messages throughout to lead you through the changes we’ve made. Journey with us. Allow us to guide you into something better. It is an honor to serve alongside you in sharing the treasure of the gospel. This good news is an agent of change: Above all else, it transforms hearts, minds, lives and communities for the glory of God.

Onward, for His glory.

Dr. Steve Coffey, Director of Christar U.S., began work with Christar in 1989. He and his wife, Beth, initially served among North African immigrants in France. In 2001, they returned to the U.S. for Steve to lead the Christar Church Planting Division. In 2005 he became Director of Christar. Before serving with Christar, the Coffeys worked for a year in a humanitarian project in the Red Sea hills of Sudan among the Beja people. Dr. Coffey’s education includes an undergraduate degree in history education from Liberty University, a Master of Divinity from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Strategic Leadership from Regent University. The Coffeys have three children and four grandchildren.